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Walking near the river at Wroxham today I witnessed this chap see video) hook a Pike on a lure he had no equipment other than rod + reel, the poor fish was yanked from the river and as you can see he didn't have a clue what to do, hence putting his foot on the fish, at that point I went over and asked him what he was doing and in his limited English he said he had left his pliers at home. By this time the Pike had been on the bank several minutes so I put it back still attached into the water at that point another angler guy asked me what the problem was, when I told him and he said he had some forceps in the car which he went and got I then handed the Pike out of the water and the guy with the forceps remove the barbed trebles. I then went to put the Pike back in to but the foreign guy said he wanted to keep it.... I told him he couldn't and put the Pike back in the river much to his dislike. Now I have heard people go on about this sort of thing, but to actually witness it in the middle of a busy Wroxham is quite shocking, I should also add he was not on his own, your thoughts please... Video

to be honest, I can not bring myself to even watch the video, but if I had seen this it would not of been a pretty site as he would of ended up in the river. Totally disgusting, hope he never crosses my path.

I was hoping the Pike would bite his bloody fingers off. These are Eastern Europeans who in their own country fish for Pike and eat them as the norm. This is the United Kingdom and you live here you obey our rules, just the same as if we were living in your country we would have to obey your country's rules.

Did anyone actually measure the pike? I thought it was permissible to take one pike a day, up to 65 cms.

Does the EA monitor this forum? I would think they would only be aware of this incident if it was actually reported to them.

"..for the avoidance of any doubt, the broads are not legally a national park and do not come under the national park legislation, and nor will they."Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for DEFRA (Hansard 2015)

And another point to throw in- aren"t anglers supposed to use only barbless hooks nowadays ? Or is that just a recommendation?

I would have walked away and reported him there and then, so that hopefully he would have his collar felt whilst still there. A sitting duck so to speak.

We are aware from a Ranger that there have been other instances of, shall we say, dodgy fishing practices taking place here including fish being taken away and a lack of the necessary licence for fishing in the first place. We have also noticed, when mooring there, some fishing with rod only, no other gear.

Needs clamping down on, so if you see anything like this, please report it straightaway.

Re BA jurisdiction - didn't suggest they did MM! But a Ranger told us what he told us. And, if I recall, on that particular day he was waiting for an EA inspector to attend at the time, amd therafter a chap on the river was "visited".

Firstly I do not condone the action of the fisherman as I believe all fish should be treated humanely but It is not illegal to fish with just a rod It is not illegal to remove fish from the water a list is given on the government web site and it is surprising It is not illegal to fish for pike with a barbed hook But the actions to me are not that of a fisherman I am a rank amateur when it comes to fishing often spending hours feeding the fish with no catches to record and if lucky a landing net and return to the water is the action for me

As both Pally and Dodger have said, what the guy is doing is not illegal, it's not nice and I too would have intervened. Unfortunately the EA rules allow it and has has been said they don't have enough staff tp police the situation even if it weren't legal.

1.6.2 What freshwater (coarse) fish can I take? On rivers, you may take no more than: ? one pike of less than 65 cm per day ? two grayling of between 30 and 38 cm per day ? a total of fifteen barbel, chub, common bream, common carp, crucian carp, dace, perch, pike, roach, rudd, silver bream, smelt or tench (including any hybrids of these species) of less than 20cm per day All lengths are measured from the tip of the snout to the